The Abilene Paradox concerns groups enacting a choice that members privately did not want. Misread preferences and feared social consequences create apparent agreement. Diagnosis requires evidence gathered before the outcome, while independent preference collection helps distinguish this pattern from genuine disagreement or ordinary decision failure.
- FamilyModel
- CategoryEffects, Biases & Phenomena
- DomainGroups & Decisions
What these mean
Editorial orientation · Family
Model
In this series, Model names the editorial family primarily used to understand and explain communication: theories, frameworks, effects, traditions, principles and other conceptual resources. It is an umbrella for a route into the field, not a claim that every included object is a predictive model.
Editorial orientation · Category
Effects, Biases & Phenomena
Identifies a bounded pattern in judgment, behaviour or communication and the conditions under which it appears. Naming the pattern makes a recurring difficulty recognizable; it does not make the pattern inevitable or supply a complete explanation.